Facebook Asking Some Users To Upload Government Issued IDs

[bathroommonkey76]

Facebook on Thursday began asking certain popular users to upload photos of their government issued identification cards to help the social network test a new accounts verification service, the social network confirmed to TPM.

“​The new process enables people to verify their identities by submitting a government issued ID,” a Facebook spokesperson said.

Facebook also revealed to TechCrunch, which first broke the news of the new verification process on Wednesday night, that it will “permanently delete” the ID information after the account holder has been verified.

Facebook did not elaborate on how exactly it will go about verifying the IDs or the accounts supposedly attached to them.

Twitter and Google Plus, which also offer account verification services for selected users and have done so for months (years in the case of Twitter), are similarly opaque about how those verification processes work.

Read more here:

http://idealab.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/02/facebook-now-verifying-accounts-making-users-upload-govt-issued-ids.php

[Lifelong Protester]

1. which Government issued IDs?

Sorry, I didn't read the article first, maybe this is overseas? If it's in the good ole USA, I don't know nuthin' about a government issued ID

[bathroommonkey76]

2. Screenshot taken from Techcrunch

http://techcrunch.com/2012/02/15/facebook-verified-accounts-alternate-names/

[Lifelong Protester]

6. Wow. and NO WAY!

"yeah, heh heh, just upload your passport...or your SS number...heh heh. It's safe with us!"

Nuts on that noise, it'll be buh-bye FB before I go through that crap.

[Denver Donkeys]

14. When FB changed its privacy policy for the 8237429847th time

I decided to quit Facebook.

[nxylas]

15. But you can't really quit Facebook

It's like Hotel California, you can check out, but you can never leave. They will still have all your information in perpituity.

[Denver Donkeys]

16. true

Facebook has become Big Brother.

I rarely use it now. My wife is still a big FB user.

[Lifelong Protester]

25. Yep.

never click on those stupid ads. no info about my B-day, college, etc. My likes include: breathing, walking....

[christx30]

53. That's why

you keep getting those spam emails from fly-by-night oxygen suppliers and shoe manufacturers.

[Lifelong Protester]

54. Oh, that was good...

I am

[sce56]

18. If you actualy would have read the instructions given it said BLACKOUT SENSITIVE DATA!

Like License number etc.
Not in favor of this but they do not want your id #'s

[bathroommonkey76]

20. Why are there 50 profile privacy options on FB?

I know that I am exaggerating a bit, but FB tends to not explain their actions for the average user to understand. They have been doing this type of thing for a long time.

They don't need your id #s. FB already knows who you are. With all of the information they collect on their users it's conceivable that your face is in some database somewhere. I do not trust these clowns for their sly data gathering techniques and neither should YOU!

[boppers]

37. Because users screamed about not having enough privacy controls.

"I only want these 5 people to know I'm gay" is a real privacy headache to manage, software wise.

[Gormy Cuss]

28. Blacking out sensitive data invalidates the verification process.

If unique identifiers like account numbers and SSNs are blacked out they may as well just take the user's word for it.

That instruction makes sense to me only in a testing phase. A real rollout of verification would need that info or the IDs are useless.

[Lifelong Protester]

36. Social Security cards have no pictures

what would you be uploading? You could FAKE an SS with ANY name on it.

[boppers]

38. You can cross-verify the number as being valid for the name.

To fake being somebody else, you'd have to know their name, *and* number, otherwise E-verify will kick it back as invalid.

[Gore1FL]

34. No one has to do it. This is for celebrities that want to go by their stage name.

They have to fill out a form that says they are indeed the famous person they say they are in order to use the nick name of the famous person they say they are.


For example, Stefani Germanotta, aka Lady Gaga, could use Verified Accounts to verify that she is the famous Stefani Germanotta, to display her name as “Stefani Germanotta (Lady Gaga)”, or display it as simply “Lady Gaga” with Stefani Germanotta appearing the About page of her profile.

Lady Gaga would then appear more frequently in Facebook’s Subscribe suggestions. Additionally, those who enjoy her music wouldn’t accidentally subscribe to another person with the same birth name, or that registered an account with that name in hopes of duping subscribers and spamming them.

Facebook will manually approve alternative names to make sure they’re real stage names, pen names, or otherwise established monikers for applicants. It will need to be careful to avoid mistakenly verifying fake accounts, like Twitter did in the Wendi Murdoch fiasco.


This is a non-issue. There is no there there.

[tpsbmam]

26. Holy shit! Not in a million years!

This is beyond creepy.

[EvilAL]

3. HAH!, that'll

be the fucking day. They tell me they can't get ahold of me by email every time I log in, but I get emails from them all the fucking time. Seems to be like a twitter account verification to stop epople form making accounts of famous or popular people..
Fuck them..

[closeupready]

4. Creepy, if you ask me.

No thanks.

[dipsydoodle]

5. wtf are popular users?

Those they like?

I'd says its DOBs is all they really want for marketing databases.

Maybe there will be something about fuck off they cant quite grasp.

[EvilAL]

8. fucked if I know.. nt

[Posteritatis]

11. Tends to happen for "big name" people - politicians, celebrities, stuff like that

As a not-Facebook example, I remember some Trek actors getting briefly in trouble for using their own names on other platforms until they could prove they were who they said they were, as opposed to some schlub claiming to be someone else (which isn't rare).

As a Facebook-specific example, George Takei'd probably get that if it wasn't already fairly thoroughly obvious the account's his.

[KurtNYC]

17. people were creating accounts claiming to be Tommy Jordan

and Jordan's lawyers are trying to stop it.

[Chan790]

22. Popular users = celebrities and publicly-notable individuals. n/t

[FrodosPet]

43. They may be talking about celebrities

A lot of famous people have a number of impersonators online. This may just be a reaction to that. If I were famous, I might even appreciate having a tool to combat people who can cause damage to my reputation.

So long as you don't have to send them ID numbers, I am not quite as freaked out about this as many other aspects of our modern electronic lives.

[dipsydoodle]

44. Yes I think you're right on reflection

I guess its to help prevent spoofing in some instances.

I'm reminded of when Microsoft took a guy in Scotland to court over the use of his company name - MikeRoweSoft. They lost because his name really is Mike Rowe and the small size of his company was such that no confusion should ever arise.

[Sherman A1]

7. Oh, this will work well....

for FaceBook

[LadyHawkAZ]

9. KMA FB!

[Richardo]

10. Richardo Asking Facebook To Upload His Foot to Zuckerberg's Balls

[dixiegrrrrl]

12. I hope this is not the start of a nasty trend for social sites

but it does smell heavily of Homeland Security.

[patrice]

13. Seems a little like our problems with Citizens' United to me. If YOU claim a right to speech,

why don't I have a right to know who YOU are, on FaceBook or anywhere else for that matter that you are exercising your "right" to speech?

If that right to speech is based upon your personhood, your Youness if you will, how is that right manifested in secrecy about YOU?

If we protest this "right" in Citizens' United, why would we support it on Facebook by demanding identity secrecy?

[KurtNYC]

19. The failing $5 bil IPO, the attrition rate, and this

are all signs that FB has peaked. FB pumped -- next comes the dump.

The next version of an FB site will do well to allow users to segregate professional, personal and family contacts IMHO.

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-02-08/wealthy-investors-shrug-at-facebook-ipo-after-private-purchases.html

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/science-and-technology/2011/06/15/facebook-fatigue-as-millions-unfriend-the-social-media-giant-86908-23202490/

[boppers]

39. Google+ calls the segregation "circles".

Facebook already has it, too.

Nobody seems to use it, though. They just bitch the the site "should have known" that a drunken photo wasn't meant to be sent to their mother.

[saras]

21. I'll upload all the government IDs I can get, as long as they aren't mine

The idea that a bunch of sleazeballs like Facebook have a right to examine your ID - well, some people sign up to download malware, too.

[allan01]

23. re: Facebook Asking Some Users To Upload Government Issued IDs

zukenberg is taking more and more and more of our personal data. who authorized this mornic requirement , face book or our government. earlier fb wanted our mobile phone #s when we wanted to ask for a new password . what next
? this crap has got to stop now!

[kirby]

33. He hasn't taken it...

People have given it to him. Big difference.

[BadgerKid]

24. Seems like a nice way

to get around any interagency data sharing barriers.

[TBF]

27. Zuckerberg better prepare to give me his SS# before I give him mine.

He's such a little twerp. If that becomes a requirement that will be the end of FB for me.

[boppers]

42. Are you famous? Do you have millions of people trying to impersonate you?

Maybe hundreds?

Oh, and Zuck's SS# was already given out, back in 2007. It's bad form to release such info on DU, so I will direct you to an article about Zuck, and threading the privacy needle:

http://allthingsd.com/20071130/ironic-yes-but-zuckerbergs-privacy-violated/

[TBF]

47. You have no idea who anyone is on a message board

but lovely defense of Facebook. It's amazing to see how easily some people will give up their privacy and demand the same from others. Of course in your article, which you obviously neglected to actually read, there was a release of information which was immediately corrected. Of course they would correct it in Zuckerberg's case - but the average person on the street - good luck.

[boppers]

49. If I need to, I can subpeona a message board and get an IP.

IP's have owners. Those owners lease to customers. It's all tracked.

IOW: If you don't want to give up your privacy, please stay off the internet.

Simple enough to understand?

[TBF]

50. Duh - but you'd have to have a pretty good reason for doing so.

And again, nice support of Facebook. Noted.

[boppers]

51. Facebook is doing the same thing as DU.

I don't mind it. Others fear losing their privacy.

Whatever floats your boat.

[JJW]

29. A wonderful means to halve your identity stolen

no thanks!

[KatyaR]

30. NOT. ON. YOUR. FUCKING. LIFE.

How do these asshats' lawyers not tell them what a bad thing this is? Or, probably, they just don't listen.

[BlueIris]

31. Yuck.

Enjoy obscurity, FB asshats.

[Gore1FL]

35. This is a voluntary thing for celebrities

It's to protect them. It's to protect their fans.

They aren't demanding this from the user base.

It's all at the link...

[Frank Cannon]

46. They don't need that info, even from celebrities.

There are ways to check the bonafides of a celebrities without asking for their freaking Social Security cards. How about a picture of a celeb holding an "I <3 Facebook" sign and a copy of today's New York Times? That's what other websites do.

This is just more Facebook creepiness. Anyone who would hand over their driver's license to the likes of Facebook would have to have rocks in their head.

[Gore1FL]

48. If you are ever a celebrity, don't do it n/t

[woo me with science]

52. They are testing a verification service.

Obama's Internet ID plan is also beginning pilot programs that will test possible verification service providers. I posted the link to the full proposal here recently.

They envision a centralized service like this to become ubiquitous for Internet transactions in the near future.

[Bad_Ronald]

40. Deine papiere, swinehund!!!

Well, not exactly, the link explains it all. But, it's always fun to take a few things out of context with articles like this for shits & giggles. The sad thing is, this probably would be a mandatory requirement if certain elements in our society had their way.

[applegrove]

41. Good idea.

[egeorgequi]

55. Yeah, voluntary - For Now n/t

[newhopeministriescwd]

56. Sign this

http://www.change.org/petitions/facebook-facebook-is-now-asking-for-ids-state-issued-or-drivers-licence-2


I just started this lets all sign it something needs to be done this is invasion of privacy